


A Murder Among Us

by almond_eyes



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: 1 Act play, Crime, Murder, Murder on the ISS, Mystery, Other, Quick Mystery, Short Story, iss, play, resolved quickly, script, stage directions, written in play format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almond_eyes/pseuds/almond_eyes
Summary: Cosmonaut Nikolaevna is murdered and they are cut off from everyone. Communications won’t be getting through—at least not until the murderer has another chance to strike again.Everyone on the International Space Station is a suspect.The confident commander who doesn’t often see things in more than one point of view, a Japanese science officer with the outlook of an optimist which doesn’t do much for her case, a cosmonaut who serves as the station’s flight engineer and assists his fellow science officer, and a military veteran whose personality can be described as polar opposites to his level of intelligence.They all have the keen sense of disappearing and appearing at the right moments and locations. Someone is sabotaging the ISS and wild accusations are thrown in the light of suspicion. One of them is the murderer. Who is hiding among them?





	A Murder Among Us

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

ACT I

Scene I

_ (Scene — ISS. Late morning.) _

_ (The laboratory is filled with equipment and machinery lining its walls on both sides, wires and knobs the normal person could yet to understand. Bags of items and equipment overfill the floors to the side. The second laboratory is neater than the former, the heavy machinery that clogged the previous less filling on the eyes. It gives off an airy space. In the hallway down forwards, soundproof bedrooms—allowing the astronauts to rest their ears from the constant white noise—lay scattered evenly across both sides of the hall. Further down the hall, past the individual chambers lies the main hall. The stark white-grayness of the main hall is not unlike the others. It is modern, with its white-grayish walls and nothing to adorn the walls other than the bare necessities. The storage along the walls contain packaged foods and drinks.) _

_ (The satellites outside make up the grandeur of the spacecraft and the solar array wings. The spacecraft is constantly orbiting Earth, yet the passengers aboard do not feel much of a change in velocity.) _

( _ The omnipresent white noise is a constant hum in the background. The air circulation fans and coolant pumps and machinery carry on buzzing and whirring. The airlock lays abandoned save for one body which lies crumpled on the floor, barely moving. Items on the equipment rack are scattered on the floor.) _

_ (The curtain rises in dim lighting, heavy footsteps running from a shapeless body tangled in its own limbs. Heavy breathing ensues before the creaking of the airlock can be heard opening and closing just as quickly.) _

_ (Heavy, muffled footsteps are heard running from the airlock.  _ **NAOKO YAMAMOTO** _ enters the doorway of the airlock. A woman’s shrill, screeching scream echoes through the chambers of the spacecraft.) _

_ ( _ **YELENA NIKOLAEVNA** _ lies crumpled on the floor, an unimaginable amount of blood continuing to spill out of the incision on her throat. It floats up, bubbles of crimson floating in different directions, that it’s hard to see the full capacity and the scale of the injury. Her right leg is broken and the bone juts out at an odd angle, as does her opposite arm and her body is restrained next to a shelf. A scuffle had ensued, equipment scattered on the floor, a spacesuit that would now lie forever uninhabited. Blood continues to pour out, soaking the scattered equipment on the floor.) _

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ kneels on the floor and pulls her shirt to the bleeding. The jacket is covered in the pool of blood.) _

_(The lights flicker and the airlock is near pitch black now. A scuffle of feet ensues and_ **JARED** **LELLOWYN** _and_ **IVAN LEBEDEV** _stumble into the darkness towards the scream._ **LELLOWYN** _is of American origin in his lower mid-forties and gives off the sense of superiority, but one wonders if he can’t help it as his position as commander. He is tall and thinks—as well as moves—quick on his feet._ **LEBEDEV** _, the Russian counterpart of_ **NIKOLAEVNA** _and the flight engineer_ _is the quietest of the group._ **LEBEDEV** _appeared to have had a general dislike of his crewmates. His face is stoic in juxtaposition to the horrified expressions of his crewmates.)_

**LELLOWYN.** _(moving to_ **YAMAMOTO** _.)_ What did you do?

( **YAMAMOTO** _ is Japanese, and could be described as intelligent, as are most of her cohorts aboard. She is the science officer, responsible for the ship’s experiments.) _

**LEBEDEV.** _ (runs toward the commotion and faces  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ ) (with a slight Russian lilt) _ What happened here?

**YAMAMOTO.** _(flustered)_ I didn’t do it _(she raises her hands in defense. Her hands are a brilliant crimson and drip onto the white spacesuit which lies abandoned on the floor.)_ I was just in medical, I— _(drops her hands.)_

**LELLOWYN.** Let’s see. . . Lebedev! Go help Nikolaevna or I might just tie you up myself!  _ (walks towards  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ and restrains her wrist.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** _(screaming unintelligibly)_ I can’t have—I didn’t—stop this!

_(_ **LELLOWYN** _drags_ **YAMAMOTO** _to the storage room._ **LELLOWYN** _slams the door and clicks the lock.)_

_(Instantly,_ **YAMAMOTO** _rises and slams the force of her body against the door.)_

_ (Clunk) _

_ (Clunk) _

LEBEDEV.  _ (enters solemnly through the right door) _ She’s gone. Whoever did it slit through her throat, Yelena bled out.

_ ( _ YAMAMOTO _ ’s eyes widen.) _

_ (A piece of spare piping slams against the door.) _

_ ( _ **LEBEDEV** _ faces  _ **YAMAMOTO** _.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** Where’s Walsh? Get him, he is the only one not present. 

**LEBEDEV.** You are in no position to make orders. He is wiping himself down, bathing _ (he gestures towards the rooms.) _ We must notify the support team. _ (He turns to  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ , but does not look her in the eye) _ Have you fixed the communications radio?

**YAMAMOTO.** I shut it off—

**LELLOWYN.** Why would you do that?  _ (angered)  _ Are you trying to kill us all?

**YAMAMOTO.** Be patient. I was looking for Nikolaevna, she was meant to go out on the spacewalk to assess the satellite. She didn’t report back to me. The communication systems were malfunctioning and would have interfered with the other machinery. I did not kill her.

**LELLOWYN.** _(walking towards her)_ If you shut it off, you can get it back on. 

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ slams her fist against the small window slot.  _ **LELLOWYN** _ backs away.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** I won’t be able to get it back on for hours, and it doesn’t help that you’ve restrained me in this room.  _ (She twists her lips in an ugly smile)  _ Where’s Walsh? Where were you Lellowyn? I heard footsteps running away from Nikolaevna _ (she points accusingly.) _

**LELLOWYN.** Where was I? You were the one busy slitting her throat! I was in the main hall for my daily exercises. I ran to her scream. Why don’t you ask where Lebedev was?

**YAMAMOTO.** _ (shouting now) _ He was with me, in medical!  _ (She turns his gaze to him.) _

**LELLOWYN.** You might’ve planned this all! Asked Nikolaevna

_ ( _ **LEBEDEV** _ sits in the corner silently.) _

_ (The lightbulb in the lab down to the right flickers rapidly.) _

**LEBEDEV.** Go and fix it, Jared. And clean out the filters while you’re at it  _ (he waves his hand dismissively, annoyed at the commotion.) _

_ ( _ **LELLOWYN** _ walks off to the right corridor.) _

_(_ **YAMAMOTO** _turns her gaze upon the rooms to the left and_ **LEBEDEV** _follows it. The lights in all the rooms and hallways flicker.)_

_ (The lights go out and everything plunges into darkness and the curtain quickly falls.) _

Scene II

_ (Scene — The same.) _

_ (When the curtain rises,  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ has escaped from her temporary restraint.  _ **LEBEDEV** _ still sits in the corner.  _ **WALSH** _ and  _ **LELLOWYN** _ are nowhere to be seen.) _

_ (Scuffling) _

**LEBEDEV.** _ (the slight lilt in his voice returning)  _ What is the meaning of this?  _ (His gaze moving wildly in the darkness)  _ Naoko! What did you do?  _ (He lights the torch, the beam landing directly on  _ **YAMAMOTO.** _ ) _

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ appears, a crowbar in hand.) _

_(_ **LEBEDEV** _moving up to restrain her again.)_

**YAMAMOTO.** I can’t have done it. It’s impossible. 

_ ( _ **LEBEDEV** _ moving closer.) _

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ crosses to the right.) _

_(_ **LYOR WALSH** _entering through the doorway at the left, watching the exchange. He is former military, most likely tortured by what he’s seen. He is in his thirties, and has still kept his muscular build.)_

**WALSH.** I heard about what happened. Have we contacted for support?

 **LEBEDEV.** _(staring accusingly at_ **YAMAMOTO** _)_ Naoko turned it off.

**WALSH.** Why would she do that?

**YAMAMOTO.** We don’t have time for that. We need to find the murderer.

_ ( _ **WALSH** _ turns to look at the broken door which has started to float.  _ **LEBEDEV** _ and  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ look back.  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ kicks it back with frustration.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** Where were you anyway?

**WALSH.** Cleaning. Of course, we could also ask why you had stumbled upon Yelena’s body. Yes, yes, you were in communications, looking for her after her spacewalk. We all know you disliked her.

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ purses her lips.) _

_ (His gaze wanders off, staring intently at the room to the airlock. He stares off, most likely daydreaming, but one could only describe his expression as troubled and distressed. He stares for about five minutes as a deafening silence ensues. When his mind returns, he places a cheerful smile on his face. Yet, there was something dismaying that nagged at the surface of the visage. He gave off the expression of someone who had seen too much, done too much, experienced too much.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** Listen. I was in medical with Ivan, alright? I went to work on the communications radio after—see the timing doesn’t make sense  _ (she drops the crowbar.) _

**LEBEDEV.** You could just as easily do so. You could’ve—

**YAMAMOTO.** We can’t be doing this right now. Someone could be murdering Lellowyn as we are wasting time here.

**LEBEDEV.** And you could be killing me as I stand here.

_ (An uncomfortable silence.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** Nevermind, let’s go. Lellowyn knows I was left with you.  _ (She crosses further to the right and into the corridor)  _ Which room did he go into?  _ (She walks into the second cabin room to the right.)  _

_ (WALSH walks off in the opposite direction towards the laboratory.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** _(slowly)_ Ivan. . . look here. _(She points towards the pressure reading.)_

**LEBEDEV.** What is it?  _ (Astonished) _ Someone’s trying to depressurize the cabin. 

_ ( _ **LEBEDEV** _ and  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ turn to each other for the first time and their eyes meet.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** They’re trying to kill us all.

**LEBEDEV.** _(the lilt returning)_ They? What if it’s you?

 **YAMAMOTO.** If it was me, I would’ve never told you. It could’ve also been you. We both passed by the lab. _(She pauses in thought and backs away from_ **LEBEDEV** _)_ You arrived after Lellowyn and— _(frightened)_ you— _(she comes to a conclusion)_ Nevermind, I can’t believe the thought even struck.

_ (Another beat of silence.) _

**LELLOWYN.** _(appearing in the doorway at the end of the corridor)_ Are you guys okay? _(Taking in their flustered appearance)_ The lights went out, I must’ve done something wrong. _(He grins, but his eyes do not contain the same warmth)_

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ takes no notice.) _

**LEBEDEV.** The murderer is trying to—

**LELLOWYN.** Murderer? Have we decided on that already? How do we know she didn’t decide to kill herself?

**YAMAMOTO.** There was no knife present. She couldn’t have gotten rid of it herself.  _ (She tilts her head) _ You seemed to be very intent on the fact that I was the culprit. . . Someone is trying to murder,  _ (meaningly)  _ all of us.

**LELLOWYN.** _(amused)_ How so? _(He crosses left and leans on the doorway.)_

**YAMAMOTO.** They depressurized the cabin. If you don’t believe me and go fix it, we’re all going to die of hypoxia. 

**LELLOWYN.** I’ll check it out. I’ve fixed this light but I can’t go to every room connecting circuits. 

**YAMAMOTO.** Why not? You can find the main power grid and get it working. I don’t think our murderer went around cutting wires for every room.

**WALSH.** _ (appearing behind them) _ I apologize. I had to go back to my room to take care of something and I was cleaning after daily workouts earlier.

**YAMAMOTO.** Can anyone confirm?

**LELLOWYN.** _(raising a hand_ ) I was there with him. I went to the bathroom and he went back to his room. It is of no matter right now. We can all meet back for lunch later and discuss our findings.

**YAMAMOTO.** _ (frustrated) _ It is of no matter? In that time one of us could be killed! 

**LEBEDEV.** It doesn't matter  _ (he repeats.)  _ We will meet later.

**WALSH.** Why is it of any matter? Why isn’t she still tied up? We all saw her with Yelena. 

**YAMAMOTO.** If you had bothered to come out during any of the commotions you would be very caught up  _ (rubbing her arms intently.) _

_ (They all diverge paths.  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ walks left of the corridor, towards the main power grid.  _ **LELLOWYN** _ walks out, disappearing from view as  _ **LEBEDEV** _ paces the corridor outside of the room.  _ **WALSH** _ disappears as quickly as he had come; towards and to the right of the corridor. It is still dark and there is no sign of the figures retreating other than the sound of fading footsteps.) _

_(A figure comes to a stop. They lurk silently behind_ **WALSH** _watching for his next move, waiting to encounter him._ **WALSH** _creeps out and whips his head back and forth wildly. The whirring of filters and machinery is the only noise present and one can hear the faint steps if they were to listen closely. It is still near darkness throughout the station save for the faint light of machinery and computers. There is a faint shuffle before_ **WALSH** _leans his hand against the door and makes out a figure hiding in the dark.)_

**WALSH.** Help! Someone’s running after me—I can’t see—  _ (A bloodcurdling scream erupts from him.)  _

_ (His head is slammed against the wall and metal scratches against his neck. Thin lines of blood drip down into his shirt and his walk imitates those of a drunk from the hit to his head. He stumbles and rises to face his attacker.) _

_(_ **YAMAMOTO** _and_ **LELLOWYN** _appear in the hallway up center. They are frantic from running.)_

**YAMAMOTO.** Walsh, what happened? Are you alright?  _ (Taking in his appearance)  _ Oh, did you see them? _ (She takes a step back and stumbles into _ **LEBEDEV** _ attempting to exit quietly.) _

**LELLOWYN.** Y-y-you tried to murder him? I thought you— 

**YAMAMOTO.** It’s impossible. I was with him before I went into the airlock. I saw him, he was  _ with me. _

**LELLOWYN.** How would you like to explain this? Walsh is stumbling with a concussion. 

**WALSH.** _ (accusing) _ It was him! He did it. I was going to the oxygen rooms and I felt someone behind him. Ivan attacked me. 

**LEBEDEV.** _(the lilt returning)_ He’s lying. He is the murderer. I figured him out, so I followed him. 

**YAMAMOTO.** _(facing them uneasily)_ How do you explain his injuries?

**LEBEDEV.** He attacked himself. I saw—I mean heard—him do it. He noticed me and he attacked himself. _ (Picking up the metal piping floating in the air)  _ He used this, see, _ (pushing it towards  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ ’s face) _ see the blood?

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ backs away.) _

**WALSH.** I’ve been attacked, can’t you see?

**YAMAMOTO.** Or you’re working together to throw us off your trail.

**WALSH.** Ivan’s been caught in the act, I don’t know what else to tell you.

_ ( _ **LELLOWYN** _ drags  _ **LEBEDEV** _ to the medical room where he is restrained.)  _

_ ( _ **LELLOWYN** _ crosses right to the opposite side of the room, seemingly engaged in placing items into cabinets.) _

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ remains at the right of the doorway, grudgingly watching the exchange.) _

**LEBEDEV.** He is fooling you all! Look what he’s done, _ (muffled) _ he is a fox in sheep’s _ (coughs)  _ clothing.  _ (The gag is tied and completely muffles his words.) _

**WALSH.** I would like a private moment with Ivan. Perhaps I can coerce him into telling us the truth. _ (A devious smile spreads across his face.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** Perhaps that isn’t necessary.  _ (She purses her lips) _ I can get communications back on in about four hours. But I don’t believe Ivan is the one. He was with me while I was in the storage room, he can’t have turned off the lights either.

**LELLOWYN.** You said it previously, they could be working together.

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ nods reluctantly.) _

_ (silence) _

**LEBEDEV.** _(the gag hanging around his throat now)_ Jared, you’re always so keen to pin it on someone else. First Naoko, then Yelena herself, and now me. _(There is no anger in his voice, but there is the voice of distress)_ When are you going to blame Lyor, hm? 

**LELLOWYN.** _ (sharply) _ He has been attacked! Doesn’t that prove him more than innocent?

**LEBEDEV.** He’s the murderer. He was—he must’ve been trying to sabotage our oxygen after his failed depressurization. . .yes, that’s it. He saw me and he attacked himself!  _ (Flustered)  _ Look at him, look at my hands. If there is so much blood, why wasn’t there any on me? I didn’t even touch him.

**YAMAMOTO.** _ (staring at  _ **LEBEDEV** _ ’s hands) _ You could have cleaned it off. 

**LELLOWYN.** Let’s leave him. Yamamoto can work on communications. We’ll travel in threes, in the unlikely chance that we  _ are _ wrong about our culprit, we’ll know who the murderer is. We know what to do, we can handle it.

**YAMAMOTO.** _(shaking her head)_ I was working on the lights before this, and now communications. I can’t work on both at once, they’re at opposite ends of the station.

 **WALSH.** _(raising his hand)_ I can work on the lights.

**LELLOWYN.** And I’ll follow you. I was running with Yamamoto towards you, and we can’t be sure from that concussion that you’ll get it right too quickly.

**WALSH.** _You_ should make sure you fully fixed the cabin depressurization. _(Offhandedly)_ We can’t die of hypoxia right after we’ve apprehended the murderer. _(The glassy, troubled gaze returns to his eyes but the others cannot be sure what to make of it. He crosses towards the center and starts out the door of the medical room.)_

_ ( _ **LELLOWYN** _ and  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ start to nod before hesitating momentarily.) _

**LELLOWYN.** _ (Slowly turning towards  _ **WALSH** _ ) _ What did you say?

**WALSH.** The cabin depressur—  _ (he pauses, realizing the mistake.) _

**YAMAMOTO.** We never mentioned that to you. You appeared in the main hall, and then you disappeared. A-and then you, you came back while we were conversing. You should’ve never known about it. Unless you. . . . 

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ needn’t finish her sentence because  _ **LELLOWYN** _ quickly understood.) _

**WALSH.** _(giggling maniacally)_ Oh, you should’ve never said that. _(Thoughtfully)_ Now I’ll have to kill both of you. . . What a shame, such great minds gone to waste. _(He pulls out a knife which was carefully strapped to his forearm under his sleeve and lunges towards_ **LELLOWYN** _.)_

_ ( _ **LEBEDEV** _ can do nothing but watch.) _

**WALSH.** _(his eyes becoming wild)_ I will have fun with this. _(He violently slashes towards_ **LELLOWYN** _and advances towards him, blood pooling at his jaw, a thin cut across his neck. Blood wells, but it is not deep enough to kill. He turns towards_ **YAMAMOTO** _, charging towards her.)_

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ stumbles around the medical cart as  _ **LEBEDEV** _ gestures wildly towards an item strapped down to it. Her fingers fumbled, the distress in her eyes growing by the second; she grabs a syringe with an orange label running down its side. Now, it is  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ who runs towards him, stabbing the syringe into his arm.) _

_ (He begins to stumble on his feet and  _ **LELLOWYN** _ and restrains him from attempting to fight back. He continues to blunder around to find a sense of direction and  _ **YAMAMOTO** _ , stunned at her actions, drops the syringe.  _ **WALSH** _ quickly attempts to pick up the syringe before  _ **LELLOWYN** _ crushes his hand with his boot and  _ **WALSH** _ howls in pain.) _

_ (They all watch for the next couple of minutes in silence as he is completely sedated and under.) _

**LEBEDEV.** Get me out of here now!

_ ( _ **YAMAMOTO** _ rushes to untie him.) _

**LELLOWYN.** _(whispering)_ What do we do now? 

_(They stand there in silence, a single beam of light shining onto_ **WALSH** _’s unconscious body.)_

_(_ **WALSH** ** _’s_** _body resembles_ ** _NIKOLAEVNA_** _’s in her death except the blood that had flowed out of her is absent. His limbs splayed across the floor like one who had fallen to their death and the crew can’t help but reminisce about finding_ **NIKOLAEVNA** _’s_ _body.)_

**YAMAMOTO.** I’ll fix communications, try to get it running as fast as possible.  _ (Looking up to face  _ **LEBEDEV** _ and  _ **LELLOWYN** _ ) _ Did this really happen? Is Yelena really dead?

(LEBEDEV shakes his head in disbelief.)

**LELLOWYN.** I’ll get ahold of Walsh’s profile. See what he was up to, what drove him mad, the likeness. 

**YAMAMOTO.** Shall we diverge? Get on with our tasks? It’ll just be the three of us, Walsh will be down for a while.

**LEBEDEV.** What do we do with Yelena’s body? It will rot, we can’t keep her on the ship.

**LELLOWYN.** Well, we can’t throw it out the airlock either. If we come back without her body,  _ we’ll _ be suspicious.

**LEBEDEV.** After we contact, we can arrange transport home. I can keep Walsh unconscious, Yelena can be wrapped up. I don’t want to stay on this station. It’s too—  _ (he turns to the direction of the airlock) _ too much. 

**LELLOWYN.** Two months. That’s all that’s left. There can’t be only two people at the station.

_ (They look back at  _ **WALSH** _.) _

**LEBEDEV.** _(turning to face all of them and nodding)_ Two great minds gone to waste.

_ (They all look at each other with hope, but there is still an underlying fear embedded in all of them now.) _

_ (The curtain falls.) _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
